From fast food restaurants removing sugary drinks from kid’s menus to city governments considering taxes on soda, the soft drink industry has been the target of a crusade to end – or at the very least reduce – consumers’ love affair with fizzy, sugar-laden drinks and raise awareness of the negative impact such calorie-filled beverages have on one’s health. Today that mission continued with the release of a video that aims to curtail the incidence of soda-related disease by turning the most iconic soft drink commercial on its head. [More]

Recently released data about the beverage industry tells us some interesting things. Plain old high fructose corn syrup-laden Coke is the top-selling soda in the United States, but its calorie-free cousin has to give up its silver medal: Regular Pepsi is now the #2 seller out of all fizzy non-alcoholic drinks, following an overall trend against diet sodas. [More]

Teams of scientists all over the world are working to harness compounds from a South American plant to solve one of the greatest challenges of the modern world. No, they’re not working to cure cancer or invent a car that runs on maple syrup. Scientists all over the world are trying to create a sweetener that’s calorie-free and considered “natural,” but is also palatable. [More]

If you’re not a frequent soda drinker and only occasionally pick up a bottle of Sierra Mist, you might get a strange-tasting surprise the next time. PepsiCo has replaced some of the sugar in the beverage with stevia-based sweetener, which reduces the calories but alienates customers who don’t care for the taste of stevia. [More]

If you’ve taken a trip down the soda (pop, Coke, soft drink) aisle at your local supermarket in the last year you’ve probably noticed an increase of miniature cans being shilled by beverage makers. Although the diminutive cans might look like a novelty, they’re actually Pepsi and Coke’s revenue-producing answer to American’s latest health kick. [More]

Many people are allergic to or just plain don’t like artificial sweeteners. Generally, they can avoid consuming them by not buying diet candy or soda. Seagram’s ginger ale pulled a cruel trick on these people recently, though, by silently swapping some sucralose (Splenda) into their drinks. “Let’s see if they notice,” we imagine the folks at Seagram HQ saying. Well, they noticed. [More]

When Coke and Pepsi cans sold in the United Arab Emirates were shrink rayed from 355 milliliters (about 12 ounces) to 300 mL (about 10 ounces) while the price remained the same, it wasn’t just customers who complained. The government noticed, too, and is removing the offending cans from store shelves. Those wacky foreigners!

The Canadian Broadcasting Company has an important message for the soda pop-buying public: PepsiCo’s claim that Mountain Dew can’t dissolve a whole mouse into a “jelly-like substance” seems unlikely to them. A rodent in a small container of soft drink is going to decompose, not dissolve. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

There’s either a huge black market in stolen Dr Pepper out there, or a band of incredibly thirsty criminals somewhere in Texas. In the last two months, in three separate incidents, soda rustlers have hot-wired five tractor-trailers from Dr Pepper distribution centers in different cities. All five trucks were later found abandoned and unharmed, but empty. Each truck was loaded with $20,000 worth of bubbly product.

The latest Census Bureau results show that 17.45% of homes in Florida are vacant. That’s 1.558 million houses sitting there soaking up the sun. Florida’s housing bubble was one of the hottest and now their vacancy rate is the highest.

Perhaps it’s the glass bottles. Or it could be the lack of high fructose corn syrup. Maybe it just tastes better. Whatever the reason, a growing number of folks on the north side of the Rio Grande are drinking Coca Cola bottled in Mexico.

It’s Soda Bottle Complaint Week here at The Consumerist. Today’s complaint is against Pepsi two-liter bottles and Mott’s apple juice bottles, which Anthony thinks are far too difficult to open. He has to use pliers. Is he the only one?

At a time when everyone is fretting about their “carbon footprint,” it’s nice to see that Coca-Cola has decided to to reduce the amount of petroleum used to make their bottles by using some plant-based plastic. But not just any plant: the bottles will be made from mono-ethylene glycol derived from sugar cane.

Sure, you can call Coke’s new 7.5-ounce mini can an exciting new marketing ploy, giving customers a nice, even, guilt-free 90-calorie gulp of soda. But reader Josh sees the change for what it is: a fancied-up version of the Grocery Shrink Ray. And not even his wife can convince him to buy them anymore.

We’ve been getting reports from readers that Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback are showing up in stores. Heartening news since Passover Coke season is over. “The second ingredient (after water) is ‘Sugar’ not the dreaded HFCS. Oh, and it is delicious,” Wyatt in Minnesota told us.

If Ice Cucumber Pepsi only left you nauseous for more, Pepsi has unveiled its “Blue Hawaii” flavor available only in Japan. The antifreeze-blue concoction delivers hints of pineapple and lemon which if consumed, will make you feel as if you have sailed into a heavenly island paradise, or something. Having fully recovered from his Ice Cucumber Pepsi review last year, reader Peter sacrifices himself for a video review of Pepsi Blue Hawaii. The video, inside…

Benzene can form in soft drinks containing vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.